Method of and apparatus for electric soldering



('NoModel.)

A. ROBINSON. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC SOLDERING.

Patented Mar. 31,1891.

lNl/E 46am TH: moms runs cm, FKOYMI'TKQ, mmmnuu, n, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALMON ROBINSON, OF LEIVISTON, MAINE.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC SOLDERING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 449,258, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed April 18, 1890. Serial No, 3%,584: (No model.)

[0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALMON ROBINSON,a citizen of the United States, residing at. Lewist-on, in the countyof Androscoggin and State of Maine, have IHXTQIHZGG certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Soldering, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, which will enable others skilled in the arts to which it appertains to use my improved process and to make the apparatus necessary therefor.

The processes of electric soldering heretofore in use are either analogous to those used for electric welding, or else consist in using in the same way that an ordinary solderingcopperis used a piece of metal which has been heated either directly or indirectly by the electric current.

The obj cct of my invention is to provide a process which shall be applicable under a greater variety of conditions than those above mentioned.

My invention consists, primarily, in melting a definite amount of solder by passing an electric current through a circuit into which it has been inserted and thereafter applying the melted solder to the joint to be made.

My invention further consists in keeping the solder at the desired temperature throughout the operation bypassing through ita current of regulated quantity.

My invention further consists-in raising the metal to be soldered to the requisite temperature by the combined effect of the heat transmitted through the melted solder, and of the heating caused by the electric current which is shunted through the metal itself.

My invention further comprises various features of the apparatus used, which are hereinafter fully set forth.

In the single figure of the accompanying drawing, H is a handle of wood or other insulating substance through which pass two copper rods 0 O, which converge toward each other until their points are separated by a capillary airspace a. To the other end of the rods 0 O are attached (preferably by electric welding) flexible conductors F B. One of these conductors terminates in a binding-post P, the other in a resistance-box R, where the current passes through the desired number of resistanoesr '2' to the swinging arm A, from which itpasses to the source of electricity whose opposite pole is connected to the binding-post P. This source of electricity may be a primary or a secondary battery, a continuous or an alternating current dynamo, or an alternating converter, the only limiting condition being that the apparatus used shall furnish a manageable current of sufiicient volume to have the necessary heating-power. As the object of the resistance-box shown is merely to vary the amountof currentflowing through the circuit, any other device for conveniently varying the resistance of the circuit, or for varying the electro-motive force acting therein, or for introducing a counter electro-motive force, can be substituted therefor when the circumstances attending a particular application of my process make it desirable to do so. Flexibility of the conductors F F may be obtained either wholly or in part by the use of joints, and the conductors may be rigid throughout where the desired application will admit of their use.

For particular purposes the rods 0 C may be curved in any way which renders their manipulation easier, and their adjacent ends should be coated with tin or with an alloy with which the solder used will readily unite when melted.

I prefer in most cases to bring the conduct ors C C so near each other that the melted solder is drawn up into the space between them and retained there by capillary attraction; but under some circumstances they can. be separated to a greater distance,if desired.

In carrying out my process I close the cir cnit at the capillary air-space a with a piece of solder-wire or with any other piece of solder of convenient size and shape. I next send through the circuit a sufficient current to melt the solder, which then rises into the capillary space and spreads over the surface of the copper rods in the same way as over an ordinary soldering-tool. The pieces of metal to be joined having been coated with a flux and placed in contact, the points of the conductors C O, with their adhering solder, are placed upon the joint or near it. As the temperature of the solder is kept up by the current flowing through it, it imparts heat very rapidly to the metal with which it comes in contact, and heat is also imparted :to this metal by that part of the current whichis s'hunted through it from one point to the other of the conductors G C. These heating effects are for the most part independent of the position of the conductors '0 .0, as regards the joint. They may rest upon both the pieces of metal to be joined, or upon one, and the, current may flow parallel to the joint or across 1 it. When the joint is sufliciently heated for the solderto flow over it, the conductors C are moved along and new solder is added as needed. The meltingand the distribution sof .1 the-solder can go on at once when more con-v venient by makinga suitable increaseinthe current, which throughout the operation is,

' kept within such limits that the solder is at;

all ..tin1es hot enoughto ,fiowire'ely, while the, heat at no time rises'h-igh enough .to injure thesolder .or the metal to .b e joined.

As my process is widely applicable in the. arts, its details are necessarily modified tof suit particular applications, and Icl'aim the right to use such minor variationsi-nithe process and apparatus as would .naturallyoccur to a person skilled in theart of soldering if, called upon to apply my process :to .an-y particular case. i i

' Having now fully described myinventiomi what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isk 1. The process of electricsoldering, which consistsin passingan electric current (through i the solder .to be used, therebp melting the ing :lhecurrent, all as set forth.

3. In apparatus for electric soldering, a pair of metal rods whose ,pointsare heldat a predetermined distanceapart byian insulating-handle, in combination with each other and with a source of electricitylwhichiscapable of sending a heating-c rreqmnroegh 1 hfiem when the circuitis completed by ither' solid or fluid solder between.thepointsofthe rods, allas set forth.

,4. Inapparatus for electric soldering, .the combination, with asource of electricity, of a pair of metal rods whose points are separated by :acapillaryspace of such dimensions that meltedsolder willrise into it, alliasand for .the purpose set vforth.

signed in presence of two witnesses on .the 3.d'day of April, 1890.

' ALMQL ROBINSON. Witnesses:

EZRA H. WHITE, F ED L. LEAVITZL. 

